Dawson
Dawson was given to 2,487 boys in 2025, #143 among boys’ names; 54,199 Americans have been recorded with it since 1885 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 52,400 Americans named Dawson and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 14 years old and half are between 6 and 23.
Dawson came back: it left the boys’ top 1,000 after 1911 and returned in 1994.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dawson by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Dawson?
#143 among boys’ names, 2025
Dawson rose from #238 in 2015 to #143 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.83 to 1.5 per 1,000.
2,834 babies in 1999, the peak
Dawson peaked in 1999, when 2,834 babies were given it (2,802 boys, #136 among boys’ names). The 2,568 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 91% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2,487 | #143 | 1.5 |
| 2024 | 2,587 | #139 | 1.5 |
| 2023 | 2,451 | #149 | 1.4 |
| 2022 | 2,047 | #184 | 1.2 |
| 2021 | 1,832 | #207 | 1.0 |
| 2020 | 1,918 | #197 | 1.1 |
| 2019 | 1,960 | #202 | 1.1 |
| 2018 | 2,101 | #194 | 1.2 |
| 2017 | 2,018 | #196 | 1.1 |
| 2016 | 1,795 | #216 | 0.95 |
Every recorded year (129)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,594 | #238 | 0.83 |
| 2014 | 1,083 | #320 | 0.56 |
| 2013 | 1,036 | #320 | 0.55 |
| 2012 | 1,036 | #316 | 0.55 |
| 2011 | 1,012 | #315 | 0.53 |
| 2010 | 1,168 | #289 | 0.61 |
| 2009 | 1,154 | #284 | 0.58 |
| 2008 | 1,292 | #269 | 0.63 |
| 2007 | 1,409 | #250 | 0.68 |
| 2006 | 1,550 | #233 | 0.75 |
| 2005 | 1,600 | #221 | 0.80 |
| 2004 | 1,763 | #206 | 0.89 |
| 2003 | 1,805 | #204 | 0.91 |
| 2002 | 1,953 | #193 | 1.0 |
| 2001 | 2,030 | #183 | 1.0 |
| 2000 | 2,312 | #168 | 1.2 |
| 1999 | 2,802 | #136 | 1.5 |
| 1998 | 1,895 | #175 | 1.0 |
| 1997 | 209 | #733 | 0.11 |
| 1996 | 195 | #757 | 0.10 |
| 1995 | 149 | #894 | 0.08 |
| 1994 | 158 | #851 | 0.08 |
| 1993 | 117 | #1,013 | 0.06 |
| 1992 | 85 | #1,220 | 0.04 |
| 1991 | 75 | #1,291 | 0.04 |
| 1990 | 65 | #1,380 | 0.03 |
| 1989 | 67 | #1,333 | 0.03 |
| 1988 | 47 | #1,555 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 44 | #1,590 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 28 | #2,064 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 34 | #1,766 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 32 | #1,769 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 19 | #2,507 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 31 | #1,823 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 23 | #2,214 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 29 | #1,915 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 23 | #2,173 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 18 | #2,500 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 17 | #2,578 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 24 | #2,010 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 18 | #2,385 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 36 | #1,444 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 20 | #2,059 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 14 | #2,561 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 16 | #2,387 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 25 | #1,754 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 15 | #2,239 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 20 | #1,795 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 12 | #2,385 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 16 | #1,979 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 12 | #2,390 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 11 | #2,570 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 21 | #1,750 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 19 | #1,864 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 16 | #2,081 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 17 | #1,988 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 17 | #1,989 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 21 | #1,738 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 27 | #1,516 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 16 | #2,030 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 16 | #1,987 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 23 | #1,601 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 27 | #1,457 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 26 | #1,492 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 32 | #1,308 | 0.02 |
| 1950 | 28 | #1,371 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 31 | #1,303 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 39 | #1,147 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 40 | #1,151 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 22 | #1,523 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 16 | #1,710 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 28 | #1,260 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 20 | #1,594 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 21 | #1,544 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 17 | #1,707 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 30 | #1,232 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 32 | #1,147 | 0.03 |
| 1938 | 13 | #2,005 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 26 | #1,314 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 29 | #1,229 | 0.03 |
| 1935 | 27 | #1,302 | 0.03 |
| 1934 | 16 | #1,792 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 20 | #1,553 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 18 | #1,732 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 28 | #1,312 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 22 | #1,571 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 23 | #1,536 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 34 | #1,232 | 0.03 |
| 1927 | 22 | #1,656 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 27 | #1,412 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 31 | #1,308 | 0.03 |
| 1924 | 35 | #1,228 | 0.03 |
| 1923 | 28 | #1,390 | 0.03 |
| 1922 | 35 | #1,227 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 36 | #1,208 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 33 | #1,258 | 0.03 |
| 1919 | 27 | #1,388 | 0.03 |
| 1918 | 28 | #1,348 | 0.03 |
| 1917 | 30 | #1,242 | 0.03 |
| 1916 | 24 | #1,424 | 0.03 |
| 1915 | 30 | #1,189 | 0.04 |
| 1914 | 24 | #1,196 | 0.04 |
| 1913 | 19 | #1,178 | 0.04 |
| 1912 | 14 | #1,287 | 0.03 |
| 1911 | 13 | #936 | 0.06 |
| 1910 | 11 | #994 | 0.06 |
| 1909 | 6 | #1,312 | 0.04 |
| 1907 | 6 | #1,227 | 0.04 |
| 1905 | 5 | #1,275 | 0.04 |
| 1904 | 10 | #770 | 0.08 |
| 1901 | 6 | #975 | 0.06 |
| 1900 | 5 | #1,356 | 0.03 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,164 | 0.04 |
| 1891 | 7 | #784 | 0.07 |
| 1890 | 7 | #825 | 0.06 |
| 1889 | 5 | #1,001 | 0.05 |
| 1888 | 8 | #763 | 0.07 |
| 1887 | 8 | #698 | 0.08 |
| 1885 | 5 | #971 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Dawson a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 54,199 Americans recorded as Dawson, 3% are girls and 97% boys. In 2025 it went to 81 girls and 2,487 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Dawson: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dawson, and how old are they?
52,400 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 54,199 Americans ever recorded as Dawson. The median Dawson alive today is 14 years old; half are between 6 and 23.
The 2020 Census counted 36,417 people named Dawson (868 women and girls, 35,549 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 39,459 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 78 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 285 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 280 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,120 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 24,900 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 25,700 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Dawson born?
The states with the most babies named Dawson are Texas, Ohio and Florida, with 18% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 180 | #228 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 134 | #91 | 1.0× |
| Florida | 124 | #179 | 0.7× |
| California | 124 | #299 | 0.3× |
| Michigan | 107 | #85 | 1.1× |
| North Carolina | 105 | #122 | 1.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 102 | #125 | 0.9× |
| Tennessee | 94 | #93 | 1.6× |
| Missouri | 82 | #74 | 1.5× |
| Georgia | 80 | #153 | 1.4× |
Where Dawson is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Dawson is most over-represented in South Dakota: since 1910 it was given 2.6 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Dawson with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 54,752 babies since 1880, Dawson is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 2,568 of their 2,585 babies (99%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Dawson
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Dawson and names like it
- Compare Dawson and DawsenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sDawson peaked in 1999.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dawson since 1910.
- The top names of 1999The year the most babies were named Dawson.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Dawson alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with DMost given first.